How powerful a fan do you need?
Are you choosing ventilation equipment for a grow tent and wondering how powerful a fan will be just right for you? Today’s article will help you resolve this dilemma!
You probably already know that the presence of fresh air in any grow tent or room plays a key role in indoor gardening. Without a sufficient supply of oxygen and carbon dioxide, plants cannot develop healthily.
While in one of our next articles we will take a closer look at individual types of fans, for now our main concern is how powerful ventilation is appropriate with regard to individual growing plans and needs. It should unquestionably be an investment that pays off in the near future. If we look at the required fan output in relation to the output of artificial lighting, you may be pleased to know that there is a simple and proven conversion:
- 1 W of light source output = 1 m3/h fan output (i.e. air flow capacity per hour).
- In the past, high-pressure discharge lamps were especially popular, but these are now increasingly being replaced by modern LED luminaires, which, among other advantages, also have much lower heat emission and therefore you do not need such powerful ventilation.
- In the case of discharge lamps, such a conversion looks as follows: 400W discharge lamp requires an extract fan with an air flow capacity of at least 400 m3/h. To prevent negative pressure in the growing space, the extract fan needs to be supplemented with an intake VKO fan and, if greater output is needed, a TT fan. (If you need truly exceptionally high output, do not hesitate to contact us so that we can help you choose a fan with sufficient air draw.)
- The calculation method above for the required output of your new ventilation also takes into account the efficiency of the carbon filter and the presence of ducting up to 5 metres long.
Our TIP: With LED technology in the Lumatek ZEUS 600W PRO 2.9 luminaire (pictured on the left), you have a guarantee of the best price-to-performance ratio on the market and, moreover, you do not need such a powerful fan as when growing under artificial light from a discharge lamp, because despite the high light intensity these modern luminaires emit much less heat.
As we have already indicated, discharge lamps are now making way in the market for significantly more advantageous sources of artificial lighting with LED technology. It is precisely when you use LED lighting as the source of artificial light in your grow box or indoor growing room, or alternatively CFL energy-saving lamps, that you will use a different way to identify the optimal fan strength. And this method is also useful if you use air-cooled reflectors in combination with discharge lamps.
- Add up the total air volume in the grow tent or growing room and multiply it by 40 for the extract fan. For an intake fan of the TT or VKO type, half the output is more than sufficient.
- Examples are useful, so if you have, for example, a grow box Mammoth Pro+ 120 with a volume of 2.88 m3, the minimum output for the extract fan will be calculated as 2.88 x 40.